Laila Lalami

Where The Novelist’s Marriage Precedes Her Work

Caller: I have been recommending a book to everybody I know and I often find it hard to recommend something without qualifying it, and this is one of those that I don’t need to qualify. It’s Alison Kraus’s book called The History of Love.

Host #1: Alison Krauss. You know. Er. What do I know about her? She’s married to somebody. She’s married to…

Caller: She is. She’s…um…Oh, I forget his name.

Host #2: Peter… I mean… David Mamet?

Host #1: (Sigh of frustration)

Maud (unable to restrain herself): She’s married to Jonathan Safran Foer. I think her first name is Nicole. And it is an exquisite book.

Host #1: (surprised) You, you know the book!

Maud: I do, I do.

Host #1: Tell us about it.

There you have it. Poor Nicole Krauss’s marital condition precedes any kind of recognition of her book or her person.

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